by Derek Toney

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Mount Hebron High baseball coach Brian Culley said he’s been waiting for his offense to catch up with the Vikings pitching. For most of Wednesday afternoon’s Howard County league contest with Oakland Mills, Mount Hebron’s bats were AWOL.

But the Vikings’ offense showed up when it counted. The Ellicott City school scored three times in the bottom of the sixth inning to post a 3-2 decision, handing the Scorpions their first setback of the spring.

Brad Wandell’s pinch-hit two-run single was the decisive play for the Vikings (6-2 overall, 4-1 in Howard County), who will play defending county champ Centennial Thursday afternoon. Wandell, a senior, said Mount Hebron has been resilient in the early season.

“I didn’t start but I stayed loose and made sure I was ready. I came through when I had to,” said Wandell. “We don’t give up. We’ve been down in the late innings a lot of times and we’ve found a way to come back.”

Oakland Mills mounted a rally in the seventh, pulling to 3-2 in the seventh, but junior Brandon Mothershead closed out the game for winning pitcher Patrick McNamara, who allowed two runs on five hits in six innings. McNamara, a junior, along senior Robbie Mend and Mothershead has formed a solid pitching core for Mount Hebron.

“The one thing we’ve been able to do all season is pitch the baseball,” said Culley, in his second season. “That’s given us a chance to win, and even though our bats haven’t come around, they’re coming.”

The Vikings were rendered helpless against Oakland Mills' righty Jeff Randolph, who struck out 10 in five innings, but came to life in the sixth against reliever Josh Yarn. Kyle Melan led off with a walk, and Matt Schmauder was hit by a pitch.

Facing a 0-2 count, Medoff, playing first Wednesday, singled to left to score Melan. A wild pitch advanced Medoff and Schmauder to second and third, respectively. With one out, Wandell singled to center putting Mount Hebron ahead for good.

Bryson Cramer led off the seventh with a double for Oakland Mills (5-1, 5-1), and scored on a sac fly by Ricky Kersey. Mothershead struck out Randolph on a 3-2 count to knock off the Scorpions from the unbeaten ranks.

“We just didn’t get our timely hitting,” said Oakland Mills coach Rod Clifford, whose team got a run-scoring single from Brian Widmayer in the third. “We left a lot of guys on base today, we’ve been getting some really timely hitting. McNamara kept us off balanced.”

The Scorpions and Vikings each have full schedule over the next week as the county race heats up. Oakland Mills has Hammond Thursday and Glenelg Friday while Mount Hebron plays Howard Friday, followed with three games next week.

“We’re going to find out really quickly who is or who isn’t good,” said Culley. “I would like to think we’ll be there in the long run.”

Mount Hebron 3, Oakland Mills 2

Oakland Mills    000 000 1-2 5 1
Mount Hebron 000 003 x-3 4 0

Randolph, Josh Yarn (6) and Suggs; McNamara, Mothershead (7) and Schmauder. 2B: Oakland Mills-Windmayer, Cramer.